Help/ Advice

[outgolfing]

Sup,
I'm new here...hope the crowd's not too rough. Anyways, I applied to osteopathic schools on 11/8 but no reply. Well I was wondering with a GPA of 3.4/3.3 and MCAT of 25. Do I have a good chance of getting into the schools? Any advice is appreciated.
always,

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[Yosh]

Your scores seem pretty much on the average...but the applications are HORRIBLY late....

Was there any reason for the delay?

It could really cost you...

 

[outgolfing]

Darn...really?...well in addition to taking the MCAT in august, I also applied to 30 MD schools along w/ 18 DO schools. Plus, I was taking 6 classes (Biochem is hard) and working part-time. Not excuses, I know...but, I tend to loose track of time and do things last minute. I'm trying to break the habit. I appreciate any thoughts you give thanks.
always,

"When life gets you down, grab life by the neck and choke the living daylights out of it."

 

[melancholy]

The August MCAT does tend to slow down the app process a bit. I'm amazed that you applied to so many schools.. it takes quite a bit of dedication to go through that many applications and still have time for class and working. Impressive! That being said, your apps were a bit late, but hopefully if you don't hear anything in the immediate time, there will be some interview notices once people start to decline acceptances at schools. I don't know if this is the recommended thing to do, but trying to concentrate on a few schools might be a good idea when it becomes late into the application year.. i.e. keeping in contact with some schools. Once in awhile, acceptances will even open up a few weeks before school is in session!

 

[sunny9505]

Hey,
jUST WANTed to tell you not to worry. I know it is hard not to, but it is very possible things will work out. I applied about the same time as you, with my secondaries in around January. I interviewed from Jan to March and got in with scores similar to yours. Good luck! read Iserson's Getting into Medical Scool if you haven't already.

 

[outgolfing]

Hey thanks everyone for replying to my plea for help and info. I really appreciate it. Sunny, what school did you get into?...maybe that's where I belong...heheh....anyways...happy new year everyone....

 

[outgolfing]

melancholy (lanny),
hey, quick question....for DO schools....do you need a recomendation from a DO or would a recommendation from an MD be ok....cuz...it's hard to find a DO ....the one I knew...moved away before i could ask for a recommendation....thanks..

 

[gower]

The reason that DO schools prefer a recommendation from a DO is for evidence that you were interested enough in osteopathy at least to speak with one. The DO is not expected to provide a recommendation about your academic skills, about which he/she has no direct knowledge, but about personality and interest in osteopathy. Osteopathic medical colleges have long been aware that many DO applicants, who really want to become allopathic MDs, are concerned that they may not be competitive enough. Osteopathy is a backup position for some of them.

You may well be asked at any osteopathic interviews whether or not you applied to allopathic schools and/or to discuss your knowledge/experience of osteopathy. The first you might be able to dodge or lie about--they do not check--but the second question is not so easy to get away with glib answers.

If you cannot get an osteopathic reference, get an MD to write about your generic interest in becoming a physician. That is better than no physician letter at all. You might explain why you used an MD, but that could raise a question about what made you choose osteopathic medicine and how you became interested and knowlegeable enough about it. To head off that possibilty, make sure you read more about osteopathic medicine other than the frequently offered glib nonsense that osteopaths treat the "whole person".

Premedical students often delude themselves by believing that interviewers are stupid old men and women who will believe anything that brilliant young applicants tell them. These are the same people who grow up believing that their parents and teachers know nothing.

 

[Jill]

I wouldn't worry - you have the exact same profile as me(not only in scores, but in number of schools applied) and I was accepted to a bunch of DO schools - I wouldn't consider your applications late - but rather right in the middle since most schools dealines are in February/March, and they fill up classes up intil June.

So goodluck and sit tight - Hope you hear something soon!

 

[outgolfing]

gower and jill,
thanks for the information and help. gower, i became interested in DO because of meeting an ER physician that was a DO and my bio teacher who had a DO for a doctor...so DO is deffinitely not a backup...well, stated plainly....i just hope to get in anywhere.....Jill, thanks for the encouragement....i'll contact aomocas soon if i don't hear from them.....Jill, what school are you planning to go to? and did you get accepted to any MD?

 

[Jamier2]

Originally posted by gower:
•These are the same people who grow up believing that their parents and teachers know nothing.•••

That's so true. My mother's intelligence has increased at least tenfold over the last ten years that I haven't lived with her. Maybe it is the lack of my influence that has helped her overcome her disabling lack of intelligence.

Seriously though, it is funny the lack of credit many applicants give the interviewers.